Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, led by Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, sent letters to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the National Credit Union Administration calling for the reinstatement of disparate impact analysis in bank supervisory activities. The lawmakers argue that removing disparate impact references from supervisory materials weakens civil rights safeguards and makes discrimination in lending harder to detect. The letters cite the agencies’ decisions to remove disparate impact references from their examination manuals following an April 2025 executive order seeking to eliminate disparate impact liability “to the maximum degree possible.” They warn that this change limits examiners’ tools to uncover discrimination by banks, credit unions, mortgage originators and other lenders, and note that discrimination can go undetected absent independent analysis. The senators asked the agencies to provide a briefing on efforts to reinstate disparate impact analysis by March 11, 2026.
U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs 2026-02-25
U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Democrats urge OCC, FDIC and NCUA to reinstate disparate impact analysis in supervision
Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, led by Elizabeth Warren, urged the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the National Credit Union Administration to reinstate disparate impact analysis in bank supervision. They argue its removal weakens civil rights protections and hinders detecting lending discrimination. The request follows an executive order aimed at minimizing disparate impact liability.